Cavity Wall Update: Government targets may not be good for your home

Today the Government published it’s clean growth strategy in which it is confirmed that £3.6 billion of investment is pledged to upgrade around a million homes through the Energy Company Obligation and extend support for home energy efficiency improved ents until 2028.

They are aiming for all homes to have an energy performance certificate in band C by 2035 and in privately rented homes by 2030.

The Government will fail to meet it’s climate change laws unless it can cut emissions from household heating which of course means that we will be seeing an influx of so called experts popping up to convince you to have cavity wall insulation and loft insulation. As many of us witnessed in days gone by from other schemes that unfortunately have left trusting homeowners with damp crumbling properties because the insulation should never have been installed in the first place. The installers often went bust and the so called guarantees were hopelessly inadequate even if you managed to get over all the obstacles to compensation put in your way.

Greg Clark the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy said in todays published document “the opportunity for people and businesses across the country is huge”. What he doesn’t say is how he intends to police cowboys from setting up companies and pumping homes with materials that are unsuitable and indeed cause untold damage to homes that people have worked all their lives for. Nor does he say that the Government will be responsible for those suffering as a result of abuse of the scheme it recommends.

Those who have and are still suffering (often the elderly and the most vulnerable people in our communities) know only too well that it can take years for the problems to surface and due to limitation periods for commencing litigation proceedings too many people will be out of time. Government cuts means public funding is non existent for these homeowners so they are left with decaying properties, devaluing by the very nature of the product that was supposed to benefit them. What ever happened to access to justice for the needy?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that your home won’t sell if you don’t have these products, don’t be fooled by cold callers or door to door canvassers, you must always ensure that any works carried out on your biggest asset is done by a totally professional organisation who you have checked and double checked. Ensure that you have a qualified surveyors report which states all the checks have been completed prior to assessing suitability for your property. Look at and take a copy of the insurance policy of the installer and the surveyor as this might serve you very well in the future.

In todays report the Government boasts about out performing their 1st carbon budget (2008 – 2012) by 1% and they project that they will out perform against their 2nd and 3rd budget by almost 5% covering the period 2013 – 2022. You can imagine how prolific the previous schemes were which are included in the 1% figure. With these projections we can expect far more cold callers coming to your area very soon.

Finally when you get a phone call on the subject listen very carefully and check whether the caller is actually from the well known organisation he mentions or is vague and only implies that he is from them or authorised to commit them. You may be very surprised in years to come to find that it was in fact an independent claims management company or someone gathering in customers to sell on at a commission!

Keep warm and be on your guard.

View other blogs relating to cavity wall by clicking on this link: Cavity Wall Link